What's new
Frozen in Carbonite

Welcome to FiC! Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

I lead Texas’s education board. Here’s why we want to cut Hillary Clinton — and Barry Goldwater.

IndyFront

Ξ⌊:Ξ≪⊕ `∧∀⊥∥'⌊: ∀∃∃∀⌊:⊕⌈≪⌊:⊕Γ.
Author
I lead Texas's education board. Here's why we want to cut Hillary Clinton — and Barry Goldwater.

ILZH7RTYPUI6PCBZ5REOYTFOEU.jpg

Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
By Donna Bahorich
September 20 at 9:44 AM

After a thorough review of every grade level, the work groups recently presented their recommendations, which were approved after some amendments in an initial vote by the board. The suggested streamlining, which by definition would necessitate omitting some important figures from the curriculum, has drawn national attention and much misguided criticism. Two sections in particular drew critics' attention.

The recommendations for U.S. history in high school regarding the contributions of significant political and social leaders would drop Hillary Clinton and Barry Goldwater from a list that included Andrew Carnegie, Thurgood Marshall, Billy Graham and Sandra Day O'Connor. For third-grade social studies, the recommendations regarding figures who exemplify good citizenship suggested leaving Helen Keller off a list that included Clara Barton and Ruby Bridges.

It is difficult to see partisanship, as critics alleged, in the recommended removal of Hillary Clinton if another target was the conservative icon and 1964 Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, notable as the first candidate of ethnically Jewish heritage to be nominated by a major American party. Removing American Red Cross founder Clara Barton or civil rights stalwart Ruby Bridges instead of the deaf and blind author and activist Helen Keller would have prompted the sort of complaints stirred by that suggestion.


I'm not necessarily sure I agree with them on removing Helen Keller (although, to be clear, I do not like Texas as a state one damn bit), but I thought this would be an interesting post, given the inherently 'Switzerland-esque' nature of Frozen In Carbonite.
 
I can see why they would cut both Clinton and Goldwater, as both of them will be defined by history for their "almost did but not actually succeed" presidential campaigns (as Ricky Bobby once said "If you're not first, you're last.") regardless of their other accomplishments (history as taught at the K-12 level is still heavily dominated by great persons and events rather than groups and trends).

Really I'm not sure if it's actually possible to reform history education enough to be beyond cheap pop facts and trivia, so things like nuance would have to go...
 
I can see why they would cut both Clinton and Goldwater, as both of them will be defined by history for their "almost did but not actually succeed" presidential campaigns (as Ricky Bobby once said "If you're not first, you're last.") regardless of their other accomplishments (history as taught at the K-12 level is still heavily dominated by great persons and events rather than groups and trends).

Really I'm not sure if it's actually possible to reform history education enough to be beyond cheap pop facts and trivia, so things like nuance would have to go...
Any claims that it isn't politically motivated can be dismissed by the fact that they are adding Moses, saying that the US constitution is based on Mosaic Law, and Billy Graham.
 
Back
Top Bottom